Top Five Libertarian Books - Learn Liberty

Dr. Stephen Davies describes the difficulty in selecting the top five libertarian books, and therefore, decides to select two books for his first book recommendation. Below are his recommendations:

[Ianacek]

These are fine academic works . However, I would also recommend, for the "man in the street", Ron Paul's "Liberty Defined"

[CatoELYounger]

The Use of Knowledge in Society is so amazing! As long as that was listed in the top five I am not too worried about the others listed. (nor have I read the other four)

[ethanmx]

@tommyzDad I'm inclined to say yes. Both Heinlein and L. Neil Smith are sci-fi writers and both have libertarian views. Don't know if it's fully accurate since I haven't been able to read Heinlein, but my gut says yes.

[bosshoggett]

I thought Basic Economics from Thomas Sowell was a great read, an the road to serfdom was ok. But the Introduction to Austrian Economics by the Mises institute was a hard slog because it was full of principals but I feel lacked explanation in the real world. I hope it wasn't just me ???? Theres a heap of others too, interestingly The free Market Capitalists survival guide was insightful, and loved anything from John Pugsley.

[ElasticGiraffe]

Human Action, by Ludwig von Mises. <3

[cluther]

My top 5 are:
1. Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
2. How an Economy Grows and Why it Crashes by Peter Schiff
3. The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek
4. Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman
5. Free to Choose by Milton Friedman

[landcitizens]

I would add "Progress and Poverty", 1879, by Henry George. He puts together the French Physiocrats originators of "Laissez Faire" along with Smith, Paine, Mill, and Ricardo into the best book on economics ever printed. It is as relevant today as when written.

[jmro]

@H1TMANactual You are partly correct, Rothbard was an anarcho-capitalist, However, you ignore the important fact that anarchism = libertarianism. A Libertarian is " an advocate of liberty". The only way to maximize liberty, is for the state to be completely absent. There is not a middle ground in which there can be a "limited government". You are either FREE, or you are NOT. I would therefore argue that Rothbard was one of the best examples of a Libertarian figure.

[StateExempt]

In particular, where did the bad blood between Lew Rockwell and Cato + Reason Magazine start?

[kevd]

One work that really focused many of the arguments for freedom is The Law by Frederic Bastiat.
I'm a Friedman fiend I must confess, but there are also some great books by Thomas Sowell. Its a tough task to narrow them down to 5 though.

[DangerousDan]

Locke's Two Treatises on Government, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, and For a New Liberty by Murray Rothbard are practically required reading for new libertarians.

[StateExempt]

@utubehayter - I have pondered the issue of the Kochs putting a cap on polycentrism in the Libertarian movement for some time, and I would like to know more about the beef the Mises Institute and the "Kochtopus" (as Konkin put it) have with each other.

I am unfamiliar with it overall but is the gist of it that the Kochs basically encourage people to work within the political system itself and water down any radical views they may have?

[AlecTaylor]

1. For a New Liberty by Murray N. Rothbard, 2. Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth 3. The Use of Knowledge in Society by Hayek 4. Socialism by Ludwig von Mises 5. Reread these all a few times, then read some more Rothbard, Mises, Spooner, Menger and Bastiat.

[LucisFerre]

Another word on (unsung) Stossel; he's easy to overlook. He doesn't take a "brainy" elitist approach & never claims to be more than a host, journalist or author, and never beats anyone over the head with Libertarian banners, but his productions using real world examples are extremely persuasive to John Q. Public who might not even be savvy that they're being schooled in Austrian economics, libertarian thought & the fallacies of rightist & leftist dogma. Thumbs up for "Stossel in the classroom".

[ethanmx]

I would have to go with The Probability Broach. Great piece of fiction. The graphic novel that's out online is pretty good also. I have yet to read the entire franchise, but from what I read from Broach, it's an interesting look at what a fully libertarian society would look like. Certainly helped in giving me the image, and hopefully it's one we can achieve.

[tommyzDad]

@ethanmx2 Thanks for the heads-up on this!
Would you say his works are "Heinlein-ian?"

[StatelessLiberty]

@vNorilor When someone puts forward "Top Five Libertarian Books" they're not making a recommendation, they're listing the top most notable/influential libertarian books. If they had titled it "5 highly recommended libertarian books" then my criticism would be invalid.

I'm not saying the books chosen are bad, or even that the authors I mentioned are better, just that (excluding Hayek) the books mentioned aren't particularly famous.

[stealthswimmer]

@nelsonrn

Not all libertarians care about economics (unfortunately, in my opinion). But also, there's other fields that we need libertarians in, like psychology and sociology

[djg]

From the standpoint of influence on the general population, Atlas Shrugged, hands down. #2 for me is Free to Choose by Milton & Rose.

[hobbit]

You're not enslaved to them at all. You have every right to leave whenever you want.

Your body is your property. If property and freedom are antithetical, then freedom is unattainable as long as you yet live. Maybe you're comfortable with that (I think flawed) worldview, but it doesn't satisfy me.